I know there are people here who live in apartments and who have raised puppies or brought home rescue dogs in apartments.

First I want to say

and second I want to say HOW DID YOU DO IT??

I'm a month into my first apartment experience (other than college dorm style apartment), and I have absolutely ZERO desire to raise a puppy in an apartment, or even bring home a dog from the shelter.

If for some reason Frodo kicked it before we moved out the only breed I could see myself even consider bringing home would be a greyhound or two. And they would be ones that were fostered and known to be quiet and non-reactive to sounds of any kind, lol.

I guess noise would be my main concern. How do you keep your puppies quiet enough that you don't get yourself kicked out? lol And I can't imagine potty training!

So yeah, pretty much I want to know how you handled it. Cause apartment life has seriously killed my puppy fever! (which is a really REALLY good thing )

There are a couple barky dogs in our complex, mostly they like to stand on their balcony and bark at other dogs or people outside. There is only little white thingy that I'd like to throttle, I swear her intent is to set Frodo off every time we are outside. Thankfully he rarely caves.

I raised Z in a second floor walk up. The complex wasn't ginormous and she was an awesome puppy so that helped a ton. Housetraining was probably the hardest - I got a LOT of exercise in our first two months or so until I figured out her schedule! It also really helped that there was a quiet neighborhood across the street so it was easy to go for long walks outside of the complex.

When I got her, the girl who was fostering her lived in an apartment, so luckily I had a pretty good idea that she wasn't too barky. The first few days we lived in a place, she was a bit on edge and would bark at little things, but she'd stop pretty quickly when she realized it was nothing, and then after a few days she got used to the noises.

Thankfully I don't live in an apartment now with Keegan. I would not have gotten him if I hadn't been relatively sure I was done living in apartments. I'm in a rental house now and the thought of moving into an apartment with Keegan does scare me.

The WORST thing about living in an apartment was that you had to get dressed and look presentable EVERY TIME the dog had to go out to potty. My favorite thing about living in a house - with a lot of distance from the neighbors - is being able to go out in my bathrobe if they have to go out in the middle of the night.

I'm a seasoned veteran when it comes to raising puppies in an apartment. Zero, Holden and Navi were all babies while I lived in my apartment, Pit was 6 months old or so.

My first question is how far up are you? I was on the fourth floor which made it a little easier than it could have been. When potty training an apartment pup, the stairs are your best friend. By the time Holden rolled around, I could sprint down the entire set of stairs to the parking area faster than someone could summon the elevator to my floor. Depending on the breed you might want, it may be easier to have some grass on your balcony for pottying, but I couldn't bring myself to do that. So basically with each puppy it was up and down 8 flights of stairs, puppy flapping around in my arms, every hour until they had bladder control. Long story short, you will be in great shape if you get a puppy!

Pit was the biggest noise problem in the apartment as he was afraid of everything up until he was almost 3 years old it seems. I had to practice constantly with him to desensitize him to apartment sounds like the elevator dinging, people walking by our door, people talking in the halls etc... I had Nbc0 be my noise maker while I treated him for silently listening instead of screaming and throwing himself at the door. The rest of the puppy crowd was easy as you could really control the noise levels from the get go before they developed bad habits.

So yeah. If I ever live in an a apartment again, it definitely would NOT deter me from getting a puppy.

I raised 2 of mine in apartments, from 8 wks old on. I guess I was lucky in that the complex I was at catered to pet people. They had converted most of their tennis courts into fenced in dog friendly areas and had lots of paved walking trails around the complex. I requested a 1st floor apt. When I couldn't get my boys outside I used a remote control car with a toy tied on top for them to chase, they were quite entertained by the car. Neither of the boys were really barkers, so that was pretty easy. The people above me made more noise than the dogs did.

Umm....I moved into a house, purely because I was frustrated trying to keep Lucy quiet in an apartment. We had a ground floor unit that opened into a patio with grass, so potty training was easy (Lucy came to us potty trained, but for fosters it was super helpful). The problem with a groundfloor unit is a LOT of people/bikes/trucks/school buses/etc go by at all hours of the day.

I lasted a year and a half after getting Lucy, and then I begged Zach to look into houses to rent!

I raised Arnold in an apartment and it wasn't terrible being a second floor walk up. I didn't love it.

I did however LOATHE having Arnold and Teddy (our chihuahua foster) in our 11th floor high rise. That was miserable. I would always forget, push off, or try to con someone else to walk him. I hated having to get fully dressed, take an elevator, a key, walk through a garage, and out into the small stinky pet potty yard. Yuck.

I vastly prefer having a yard, right now I wish even more I had a doggy door. Arnold was sick last night and the night before when Shamoo was and Denis and I took turns letting them out one at a time about 3 times. That sucks badly enough walking down stairs, talk about awful if I had to walk them outside on leash with real shoes, clothes, and try to remember a key, etc.

In day-to-day life I never found apt living that awful but if the dog is ever sick (or a puppy!) it was miserable, for me.

In day-to-day life I never found apt living that awful but if the dog is ever sick (or a puppy!) it was miserable, for me.

Yeah, that really sucks when you're getting up and dressed multiple times a night to take a dog out to poop. Especially when it's -30 out.

I have lived in apartments for the 11 years that I've had Solo and last winter added a Malinois puppy to apartment life. Yes, I am insane. My situation works well though because between me and my husband there's almost always someone at home.

The only thing that sucks now is that Pan can be reactive to people and dogs on "her" property (aka the whole apartment complex, parking lots, and surrounding area), and working on that can be incredibly challenging when you have zero control over the triggers.